The Happiest Ending
by Ori
Summary: He exposed the truth to the world and brought about a war; she told stories to her god-children and spun out happier endings. AU


AN: Hi everyone, it's been years since I have published here in the Naruto section. What started out as a few unconnected short stories turned into this monster. The style is a bit experimental, and it's an AU, but I hope you can enjoy nevertheless.

Disclaimer: The characters are not my own. They are from the series Naruto.

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**The Happiest Ending**

Chapter 1

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They told her she was a good story teller, they, being Naruto's four years old twin daughters, who she babysits for him whenever he has that monthly dinner date with his wife. She liked children but she had none of her own, so babysitting the two girls was never a chore.

"Auntie Sakura, can you please tell us a story about Sasuke?" asked one of the girls under her blanket. Neither of the girls knew the significance of the name.

The girls were babies during the war, and their parents had not yet told them about the man who broke their father's (and their Auntie Sakura's) heart in so many different ways. To them, Sasuke was simply the name Auntie Sakura liked to use for the prince in her stories, nothing more, and nothing less.

Hinata was too polite to say anything to her, but Sakura knew she was uneasy about the use of _his_ name in her stories all the same. Uneasy for a good reason – Sakura knew – but the stories were too therapeutic, and in the end, she was selfish.

She finished tucking in the girls for the night before pulling a chair between the beds and sat down. "Alright, but you two must promise to sleep after this." The twins nodded eagerly, and so Sakura began to weave another happy ending, "Once upon a time there was a knight in shining armor…"

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Sir Sasuke could not believe his eyes. Six months of perilous journey (in which he slay a giant octopus, tricked three giants, scaled a glacier, outmaneuvered an angry dragon, wrestled with eight savage lions, and crossed three decrepit bridges atop flowing lava) just to get to this God forsaken tower and what did he find? No princess, no evil unicorn that had supposedly held the princess hostage in the tower, only an open door and a note on the said door. It read:

_Dear Sir Knight, _

_I am out on a walk with Sai right now, will be back in a few hours. _

_Love,_

_Princess Sakura_

If Sir Sasuke actually had a penchant for drama like Sir Naruto he might have kicked the tower's wall and screamed, but as it was, he simply growled at his misfortune.

It all started three years when his brother tarnished their family's reputation with a scandal so vile their parents died from shame soon after. He had banished his brother to the Swamp of Misery, but alas, he had yet managed to restore the Uchiha's position in the court. When King Jiraiya decreed three wishes would be granted to the one that rescues the princess from the evil black unicorn, Sasuke knew exactly what he had to do.

So there he was, only too late as 'Sai' was having a romantic stroll with the princess at the moment, which meant _everything_ was for naught...

His brooding was interrupted by the sight of a woman riding toward the tower. The crown sat atop her pink hair signified her status. What first caught his attention was not the woman but what she was riding on – a black unicorn – the exact one drawn on King Jiraiya's wanted posters.

The princess dismounted. "Hello, Sir Knight, I am Princess Sakura" she said with too cute of a curtsy and too warm of a smile. "And this is Sai," she said and placed an affectionate hand on the black unicorn's neck. Sai neighed at the mention of his name and lowered his head as if to bow.

Sir Sasuke could not believe his eyes and ears. Sai was clearly _the _evil unicorn – and Sakura definitely did not look like a hostage, no, she seemed to be the mare's master. "I am Sir Sasuke, I came here by the king's decree to rescue you from a kidnapping unicorn" he told her, and looked at Sai pointedly, "I don't think you were kidnapped."

"About that… I sort of asked Sai to help me avoid my impending marriage with Prince Lee," the princess gave a guilty chuckle, "We didn't think anyone would be able to make it here. The location is quite dismal and Sai asked his friends to stop anyone determined enough to try."

An image of Prince Lee with his uni-brow and that God-forbidden ugly green jump suit flashed in his mind, and Sir Sasuke could not help but feel a bit sympathetic. But sympathy aside, he still had a mission to finish and three wishes on the line. "I have to bring you back, princess."

Sai neighed threateningly and but Princess Sakura, who understood unicorn-speak, shook her head, "No Sai, no violence. We lost fair and square. I can't escape mammy and daddy forever."

The knight raised an eyebrow. "For a princess that went to such length to avoid a political marriage, I really did not expect you to leave with so little resistance..." Sir Sasuke was quite convinced the princess was very much insane. Determined as other princesses before her had been, none had orchestrated their own "kidnapping" and exiled themselves to a tower protected by octopus, giants, glaciers, dragons, lions, and volcanoes.

"I don't want to," the princess sighed dejectedly, "but seeing you got here, I really don't think I can stop you from dragging me back home."

"You will go back home, and I will drag you if I have to," Sir Sasuke agreed, but his expression soften when he spoke next, "However, maybe you don't have to marry Prince Lee afterall."

The princess shook her head, unconvinced. "Mammy and daddy would make me agree to the marriage, they promised me, and they never back out of any promises."

"Precisely," the knight smirked, "They promised me three wishes."

Princess Sakura looked at Sir Sasuke with wide eyes. "You mean…" the knight nodded and the princess instantly threw her arms around him. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

It was not love at first sight.

Sir Sasuke did not melt into her hug; instead he pushed the princess away and threatened to change his mind should she lay a finger on him again. Those words were eventually retracted; however, when Sir Sasuke hanged from a cliff a week later and Princess Sakura refused to pull him up because she would have to "lay a finger on him." The princess might have planned the incident – but we would never know for sure.

Three months later when they finally arrived at Valencia, Sir Sasuke kept true to his words, and immediately used two of his three wishes. With his first wish he restored his family name to its former glory, and with his second he freed Sakura from her forced engagement (much to Prince Lee's disappointment).

He did not use his third wish until two years later. After a few chanced meetings, a few arguments, a few mishaps, a few confessions, and a lot more time spent together – Sir Sasuke used his third wish to marry Princess Sakura. This time, the princess did not run away with her unicorn from her engagement, this time, she happily accepted the proposal.

And the princess and the knight lived happily ever after.

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She retreated to the living room after the girls were asleep, and pulled out her computer.

These days, she spent her free time searching for him, looking through the case files Naruto broke so many protocols to pull for her, scouring the internet, revisiting all of his old haunts – looking for any clues of his existence. There were moments when she felt convinced she found something – a particularly elegant hack written by an anomalous poster, an article on vulnerabilities in the banking systems that Sasuke could no doubt use to conceal his activities... but those moments always passed with her conceding to the fact her "clues" were no more than fanciful conjectures.

Two years – it had been two years since the memory stick hidden in the roses with _that_ note, two years since he disappeared. Naruto told her he was most likely dead – killed by one of the many enemies he had made on his quest for justice, but there was no body, no proof of anything.

She would keep believing even if no one else would.

He is out there, somewhere, somehow, and her heart could not help but ask - _Where are you now, Sasuke?_

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To be continued. Reviews are very welcome.


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